Tuesday

tonight jim made chimichurri with the first parsley and cilantro from our garden. chimichurri is a zesty herb sauce that is delicious on grilled chicken, steak, or veggies, as well as with bread and cheese, chips, eggs, and pretty much anything you can imagine. nom nom.

Sunday

we enjoyed a nice couple of days with jim's mom, sister, and our nephew, ristow. dylan loved spending time with her cousin, and it was great being together, even though jim was busy a lot with camp.

we hit the pool for the first time this season, and last summer's little mermaid was water-shy. she was happy to sit and splash on the edge but not so sure about pool itself. it was a little cool; maybe its appeal will rise with the temperature.

and from the too-much-information department, dylan used the toilet tonight! potty training may still be a long way off, but she's actually done it once:)

Wednesday

dylan and i decided on a whim to go home and surprise my family for fathers' day and my mom's birthday, so we got in the car, drove to philly, and got to spend a lovely afternoon with my whole family. it was so great! we hadn't all been together since a brief afternoon over christmas, and a visit was long overdue.

dylan LOVED seeing everyone, and they loved playing with her. she barely stopped moving the whole time she was there, rearranging knicknacks, identifying people, things and activities, and demanding to go outside pretty much every other minute.

we only stayed overnight, but it was still a great trip. we came home for jim's birthday the next day, only unfortunately, he was completely sick. milkshakes, lunch outside, a pair of new Tom's shoes, and a sweet "my daddy birfday!" notwithstanding, it was a pretty lame 30th, and the plan is to go out and celebrate later when jim is not rocking a fever and a wicked flu.

he's not all the way to wonderful, but jim is feeling a little better, and his mom, sister, and our nephew are coming up for a few days from nashville, so we'll get to finish out the week with more fun family time. we're looking forward to it:)

Tuesday

professional workplaces, it turns out, are not too thrilled about long work absences so that employees can pursue love, fame, or thrills on tv reality shows.

i know, it was a shocking revelation when real life actually crept in amidst the fantasy dates on last night's episode of The Bachelorette, and one contestant was told by his boss that if he stayed to vie for roses, he was guaranteed at least two things: a pink slip and a trip to the unemployement office.

so the intelligent man that he is, Ed left. even thought he felt a "connection" with Jillian, he was one of ten suitors, and really, he was probably going home sometime.

Jillian did not handle his leaving graciously. tears were cried, and she criticized him for putting work before love and not being willing to take a chance.

Ed was one of TEN love interests. they had been on ONE date together.

i think Jillian had a bad case of "you don't know what you got 'til it's gone," and she wanted Ed and every other man there to leave at her dismissal, not of their own choice.

it was a little ugly, especially when she confessed to the camera, "am i not good enough to make sacrifices for?"

ugh. why do women do THAT--tying their self-worth directly to some man's approval? and in this case, a near stranger?

yes Jillian, you are worth someone's sacrifice, but you're asking WAY too much too soon. it's appropriate to make career sacrifices for spouses, life partners, and perhaps a serious girlfriend or boyfriend, but it's desperate and foolish to give up one's career to compete for the attention of a woman whose heart is split ten ways.

i mean, c'mon!

besides, these reality show romances rarely last through editing, let alone make it to the altar. if (when?) things don't work out with whomever Jillian picks, she can always look up Ed and see what kind of "connection" they have when the cameras aren't rolling and ABC isn't planning dates and creating drama.

Friday

dylan's been learning the names of some of our camp staffers, and one of her favorites is darius.

this morning on tv, a commercial came on, and dylan lit up.

"darius!"

except it wasn't darius. it was shaquille o'neal.

now, dylan has been known to confuse the names of white people, too, but there's no getting around the fact that there are not a lot of people of color living in our little town--asian, hispanic, black or otherwise.

i desire for dylan to grow up knowing people who look like her and those who don't.

which is not to say ligonier doesn't have it's own diversity. tonight at the gas station, we saw a man in a raggedy pick-up outfitted with two gun racks alongside a booted, suited polo player filling up her lexus suv.

sometimes small town life can feel a bit too small.

we've elected a black president, and that is a tremendous step forward for our country. but how do you raise children not to see people as Other when you don't live and work and worship alongside people of different ethnicities, and so many neighborhoods and communities in america are still racially monolithic?

Friday

dylan got a box of goodies today in the mail, courtesy of all children's furniture. just the thing to brighten a damp and cloudy day. they sent her the Melissa and Doug Play Food Cutting Fruit Crate (15.99) and their Play Food Kitchen Pots and Pans Set (21.99).

the toys are all wooden, with a nice, sturdy construction. the seven fruits are cute and colorful, and the pieces attach with velcro. the pot and pan set is beautiful. dylan is at a stage where one of her favorite things to do is to collect little things, taking them in and out of boxes, buckets, and baskets, so the fact that the fruit pieces can fit into the pots and pans delights her. dylan likes to stir them up with the spoon and carry the lidded pots from place to place.

she knows some of the fruits already and can identify the lemon, strawberry, and pear. i like that even in pretend play she can play with whole foods, instead of brand snacks or junk food.

at 18 months, dylan is still little for playing kitchen, and the toys are actually recommended for ages 3 and up, but the sets are already a huge hit. she has been entertaining herself with them for about an hour and her interest isn't waning. they're built to last, and i know she'll play with them for years to come.

all children's furniture stocks furniture, bedding, and mattresses along with a huge variety of toys, including really imaginative, unusual ones and a variety of eco-friendly items. the prices for the items we received were comparable to or even less than amazon.

the company sent me these items for review. the opinions are mine, and i was not otherwise compensated for writing this post.

since this pregnancy, i seem to have lost my blogging rhythm. i've been getting sick, too--not as bad as with dylan, but it seems like i should be feeling better here in my 19th week.

it's been rainy and a little chilly, so dylan and i have been dividing out time mostly between the house, the barn, and having meals up at camp. the barn is definitely where dylan prefers to spend all her time. she can call most of the horses by name, loves to pet them, and isn't afraid in the least. she even got to sit up on one last week. dylan is an animal lover, to be sure. as soon as she wakes up in the morning or from a nap, dylan starts talking about the horses and the barn and asking to go visit.

(lionelrichie is singing "dancing on the ceiling" on the view as a type, bringing back all sorts of memories of exuberant dancing around my living room to this tape, circa about 1987. oh yeah.)

i wanted to post the link to the recipe for the whole wheat pitas i tried out not too long ago. when the grocery store wanted something like 5 dollars for a tiny package of maybe four rounds, i decided to go the homemade route, considering i don't usually by a loaf of bread unless it's on sale for $2 or less.

the pitas were delicious and fairly easy, although a little time consuming, since you must let the dough rise a bit and you bake just two rounds at a time. still, it's easy, super-cheap, and totally worthwhile. (i think i used about half white flour and half whole wheat.)

i made them to go alongside middle eastern meatballs. those were just ok, so i won't post that recipe, but i did make a dipping sauce that was delicious--simply whole milk yogurt, fresh garlic, cumin, salt, and chopped parsley. mmmmmm:)

Monday

Well, they can't all be awesome. Last month's book circle choice was The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. It was okay. It wasn't bad or anything, but it just didn't hold my interest.

The novel weaves together two stories. The first deals with the murder of a leader in a modern day polygamous cult. His 19th wife is imprisoned for the murder, and her estranged son begins to unravel the mystery surrounding his death. The second story is a fictional autobiography of Ann Eliza Young, one of Mormon pioneer Brigham Young's actual plural wives, who left the church to become an anti-polygamy crusader. Interspersed throughout the two stories are other fictional autobiographies, letters, and documents rounding out the tale of polygamy throughout American history.

The murder mystery wasn't especially complicated or engaging, and Ann Eliza wasn't a particularly likable narrator. I found myself reading quickly not out of interest but from a desire to get through it. Having studied history (and religion) in college, I think the faked historical stuff troubled me in some strangely purist, academic way.

It was interesting to take an in-depth look at the domestic and spiritual fallout of polygamy. It was especially unsettling how the male characters cloaked their lust (and sometimes violence) in pious spirituality, taking on more and younger wives than they could support just to add variety to the bedroom. The novel made me wonder if the modern day Mormon church is still visited by ghosts of its polygamist past: what if any impact does it have on gender roles or sexual attitudes in their church today?